Word: afghanistanism
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...There are currently more than 110,000 foreign soldiers in Afghanistan, anchored by a 68,000-strong U.S. force. The other members of the 43-nation, NATO-led coalition provide some 42,000 troops. The Afghan army currently numbers about 94,000, but the government wants a force of 134,000 by October 2010, rising...
...Some NATO officials, though, say that even getting to 5,000 extra troops could be hopeful. That number may include troops that were already deployed as reinforcements for Afghanistan's presidential elections last August. And many NATO countries, struggling with a deeply skeptical public, have already indicated they want to scale back their military involvement in Afghanistan...
...constraints on government expenditure. "I don't see anyone sending massive numbers. Most countries are under pressure to announce exit strategies," says Shada Islam, Senior Program Executive at the European Policy Center, a Brussels-based think tank. "It's such a confused narrative about what we are doing in Afghanistan. Nobody can explain what we're doing, and people think there is nothing to show for the billions of dollars plowed into this." (See pictures of British soldiers in Afghanistan...
...German Chancellor Angela Merkel is thought to be mulling reinforcements to Germany's current deployment of 4,365, but she will wait until after an international conference on Afghanistan, set for late January in London, before announcing more resources. "The timeline is diminishing. European support will last for a year, maybe two," says Greg Austin, vice president of program development and rapid response at the EastWest Institute. "But in the long term, it is not sustainable for the U.S. and its NATO allies to bear the burden. There has to be a more hard-nosed diplomacy to mobilize neighboring countries...
...Europe has also been vocal in its frustrations over rebuilding efforts in Afghanistan. A report prepared for E.U. governments in October said the current nation-building efforts have been too slow, with political reform and clean government almost nonexistent in spite of eight years of U.S. and European assistance. "The situation in Afghanistan is deteriorating," the report said...